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DGP denies custody of Naxal

Hyderabad, July 7: The director general of police, M.A. Basith on Saturday denied having top Maoist leader Rajanna alias Chandrasekhar Reddy in custody. He maintained that he had no information of the arrest of Maoist leader from Rayalseema division.

Reports in the media claimed that Rajanna was arrested by the Andhra Pradesh police in a joint operation with their counterparts from Karnataka and Chhattisgarh at the Chittoor-Bangalore border. Rajanna joined the movement three decades ago and since then was an active participant in the activities of the organisation in the Rayalseema region.

Even as the killing of Maoists leaders Sande Rajamouli and Somanna have turned controversial for the police, the top cop challenged the civil rights activists to prove that the encounters were fake. Reacting to the allegations, the DGP said, "The encounters were not fake. The allegations are baseless and there is no proof to support it."

Sande Rajamouli alias Prasad, a Central committee member and Central Military Commission member of CPI (Maoist) was killed in an alleged encounter near Dharmavaram railway station on June 22. The Maoists in a statement following the encounter alleged that Rajamouli was arrested and later killed in a fake encounter. On July 1, Chettiraja Papaiah alias Somanna the North Telangana Special Zonal Committee secretariat member was killed in an alleged encounter in Warangal district.

Meanwhile, the State-wide bandh call given by Maoists in protest against the encounter killing of the Maoists evoked poor response barring some Maoists strongholds including agency areas. The bandh was partial to near total in the villages and towns located on Andhra-Orissa border.